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This paper presents the method used to efficiently identify and map previously unknown subsurface remains in a steep, forested, and mostly unexplored area, within the archaeological site of Porolissum, Romania. The remains are part of the defensive system of the ancient Roman Empire frontiers (Roman limes). The complementary use of high‐resolution airborne laser scanning derived digital terrain model and visualization techniques enabled the detection of 79 new, subsurface archaeological structures, most of which were confirmed by ground inspection to be key elements of the limes. The best performing methods, achieving detection of the maximum visible extent for over 75% of all features were in descending order: principal component analysis, simple local‐relief model, sky‐view factor, and positive openness. Analytical hill‐shading, slope, negative openness, and hill‐shading had a larger proportion of partial detections. The position of these ancient remains supports the hypothesis that this area was extensively deforested, for strategic purposes, during the Roman period. Employing one of the latest remote sensing techniques, we have identified the location of previously unknown, buried ancient structures of the Roman limes in Dacia Province, an essential step for compiling a database necessary for enlisting this Roman limes sector on the World Heritage List.

Abstract. This paper explores the opportunities that arise where forest ecosystem management and cultural heritage monuments protection converge. The case study area for our analysis was the landscape surrounding the Moigrad-Porolissum Archaeological site. We emphasize that an Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS or LiDAR-Light Detection and Ranging) approach to both forest management and cultural heritage conservation is an outstanding tool, assisting policy-makers and conservationists in decision making for integrated planning and management of the environment. LiDAR-derived surface models enabled a synoptic, never-seen-before view of the ancient Roman frontiers defensive systems while also revealing the present forest road network. The thorough and accurate road inventory data are very useful for updating and modifying forest base maps and registries and also for identifying the priority sectors for archaeological discharge. The ability to identify and determine optimal routes for forest management and to locate previously unmapped ancient archaeological remains aids in reducing costs and creating operational efficiencies as well as in complying with the legislation and avoiding infringements. The potential of LiDAR to demonstrate the long-term and comprehensive human impact on wooded areas is discussed. We identified a significant historical landscape change, consisting of a deforestation period, spanning over more than 160 years, during the Roman Period in Dacia (106-271 AD). The transdisciplinary analysis of the LiDAR data provides the base for combining knowledge from archaeology, forestry and environmental history in order to achieve a thorough analysis of the landscape changes and history. In the "nature versus culture" dichotomy, the landscape, outfield areas and forests are primarily perceived as nature, while in reality they are often heavily marked by human impact. LiDAR offers an efficient method for broadening our knowledge regarding the character and extent of human interaction with landscapes -forested or otherwise.

The author is challenging the Romanian historiography's interpretation concerning the visit in 213 of the emperor Caracalla in Dacia, until to the northern frontier at Porolissum, where three inscriptions with identical text were considered as the building inscriptions of the stone fortifications of the fort from Pomet Hill. He is mentioning the new inscriptions from different part of the Roman Empire that offer today a better knowledge of the emperor's actions and journeys during year 213. The conclusion is that he travelled to Orient after October 213 when defeated the Alamanns over the border of Raetia, along the Danube frontier visiting military bases. The journey was probably on the same route as he already done in 202 with his father, but in the other direction, returning from Orient. That time is possible Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Geta were in Dacia, at Drobeta, Tibiscum and Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, as several inscriptions attest. For this reason, it is possible that in 213 Caracalla stopped for a short period at Drobeta and maybe went to Tibiscum to pray in the temple of Apollo. However, continuing the trip to Porolissum is impossible to imagine, the time being too short, as he arrived at Nicomedia on the 17 th of December 213. At the end of the article, the author rejects the theory of any connection between the tile-stamps of the seventh legion Gemina Felix from Leon and those of the third legion Gallica found at Porolissum with Caracalla's journey. Furthermore, the author also dismisses the idea that these vexillations were taken to Dacia to replace Dacian vexillations involved in the eastern expedition of Caracalla, as there is neither no any positive evidence nor other evidence for similar examples in the history of the Roman military expeditions (e.g., Trajan's Parthian war) .

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